Why Mastering a Sport Like Tennis Will Help You In The Long Run

David BidenMar 22, 2016

Tennis is perhaps one of the hardest sports out there to master. It is a game of speed and strength, and is enjoyed all across the globe. Many people can play the game but only a select few can master it. As with any sport, mastering it can teach you many lessons in life.

When you first start playing any sport, you will loose on a near daily basis. Unsurprisingly, that’s when most people decide to quit. Those who stick in it for the long run have probably wanted to quit themselves but something caused them to pick themselves up and move on. At the end of the match, the looser normally has to make a choice to either hang up his racket, or to fight another match. In order to achieve true greatness in a sport, you’re going to have to loose a lot of matches first.

Another great thing you will learn from tennis is how to push yourself harder than you’ve ever pushed yourself before. If you’ve ever watched a good match, you’ll agree with me that it sometimes can be like a mini war. Nothing is easy, and nothing will be giving to you. In order to really master this game, you have to be ready to train harder, and give each match 110%. It won’t be easy, and the sheer pressure of doing this repeatedly will cause many players to crack. For those that can handle this, it will harden them to the point where they will be able to handle super human amounts of pressure in their personal, and professional lives. It will truly help them in the long run.

A third thing you will learn by mastering tennis is sportsmanship. Many people play the same people over and over again. While you may have won a match this Sunday, next Sunday there’s a pretty good chance that your opponent will beat you. As a result, you probably will be smart enough to accept your victory gracefully. You don’t want to screw this part up. In life, either at work or with your family and friends you are going to win some battles and lose others. How this will all end up in the long term will depend on how you handle your defeats, and how you accept you victories. Being a good sportsman can change almost everything.

Lastly in tennis you learn that you might not control what happens but that you can react to whatever happens faster than nearly anyone else. In order to play well, you have to be fast, and you need a good hitting arm. You also need to have the foresight to know where the ball is heading. In life you need to be strong, fast and your instincts need to be really sharp. You need to be able to hit hard, and show that you mean serious. As with anything in life, your instincts must also be razor sharp. Life-changing events happen in the blink of an eye, and the outcomes of those events are normally determined just as quickly. As such, your reaction times are of utmost importance. In life you can’t control what happens, what will be will be, but your reaction to both bad, and good events will determine what will happen for the long haul. A game like tennis provides you with ample opportunities to help reinforce this mentality.

In conclusion, if you decide to master a team sport such as tennis, you will learn several valuable lessons including that of hard work, sportsmanship, and that of perseverance, and foresight. With that being said, tennis is a game that can change your life